This is the story of my life in Buffalo, N.Y. where I write and draw. I am finishing up the biography of the great American pianist Leonard Pennario, a massive project I began 11 years ago when I had the unbelievable good fortune to get to know him. I also love to sketch.
The blog on this page features my adventures in art and other things. The Music Critic blog -- click the link on the right and down a bit -- has my thoughts on music. Thank you for visiting!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Heigh ho, silver

You, there, prepare me a place in Heaven. The sun has hardly set on Ash Wednesday and already, I have done my Lenten penance.

Last night I come home from Ash Wednesday Mass and call my mother because I had promised to. And my mother told me:

"If I pass on, don't go looking for the silver. I've given it all to St. Vincent de Paul."

"Oh," I said. "OK."

So I am sitting there digesting this news. And my mother goes blithely on: "I had it all covered up in case of a break-in. This is a load off my mind, having it gone."

I am thinking: You could have confided in me, that it was bothering you having this silver around, you know?

I could have figured out a way around that problem!

"It was only worth $500," my mother said. "So, St. Vincent de Paul got $500 out of it."

Above is a painting of St. Vincent de Paul looking up the silver and figuring how much it is worth.

I do not mean to sound irreverent. St. Vincent de Paul is practically a member of the family. He is the founder not only of the St. Vincent de Paul thrift stores which, you know me, I frequent, but he is the founder of the Vincentian Fathers and Brothers who educated Howard at Niagara University.

Wherever there is a Catholic family there is talk of St. Vincent de Paul. When Leonard Pennario passed on, the name of St. Vincent de Paul was loud in the land. There were a few things of Leonard's I grabbed away from St. Vincent de Paul for sentimental reasons, the bathrobe I am wearing right now being one of them. I think the good saint forgives me.